Using material from Item A and elsewhere assess right realist explanations of both the causes of crime and the solutions to crime (21 marks)

As suggested in item A, right realists explain crime to be a social problem requiring practical solutions. Realists focus on crime which is at the centre of public concern, for example street crime, violence and burglary; they are concerned with increasing measures of crime control. Wilson and Hernstein put forward a biosocial theory explaining the causes of crime; they argue crime is an activity disproportionately committed by young men living in large cities, these young men are temperamentally aggressive as a result of biological factors which predisposes them to crime. The social aspect to their theory comes from the belief that young men are socialised in the family, school and wider community in a culture that emphasises immediate gratification, low impulse control and self-expression which has reduced the restraints on their behaviour in conforming to society’s norms and value, resulting in more crime.
A criticism of Wilson and Hernstein’s theory is their assumption that young males in inner cities are responsible for most crime. Right realists uses official statistics to base their theory on, thus, the assumption of young males could be based on an invalid picture presented by official statistics. The theory also ignores wider structural causes of crime, such as the increasing gap between the rich and the poor creating resentment and relative deprivation resulting in more crime. Right Realists focus on young males and street crime yet ignore the extent of white collar crimes, domestic crimes and corporate crimes.
Hirschi continues the right realist theory of causes of crime by proposing his ‘control theory’, in which he argues individuals are more likely to commit crime when social constraints on behaviour is